How to tell if your steering rack is worn out.

[Bert]

To resume the saga of wild steering........ Could not induce 'play' anywhere under the car last weekend even with my daughter turning the wheel back and forth, nor by using a pipe wrench to wiggle the LCAs. So I bit the bullet and headed for the dreaded bi-annual Ontario e-test Monday this week and enroute the steering wheel was suddenly 1/4 turn off horizontal as I gingerly drove 10 km down back roads to the test facility. I no sooner got there and the driver's side driveaxle seal 'let go' and all my tranny fluid peed over their shop floor. Car flunked the e-test (no surprise, all things considered) and had a tow truck bring the car to my buddy's garage and as the tow was letting the car down the driver's side lower ball joint popped out. Grumble grumble curse curse but at least finally the mystery looseness was identified. I put in a new LCA and a new tranny seal (and really had a good look at the knuckle and took my time seating the new pinch bolt) and while I was at it removed the struts and FMS 'sport' springs in order to replace them with 'one coil cut-off Aspire springs'.
Alignment is now way off (visible even!) and the car was undecided on which way to go on the 3 km way home but at least the violent right-left motion while accelerating is now gone. Tomorrow I'll do my typical 'driveway alignment job' on the car and then report back to the forum. This saga may not yet be over (is the steering rack worn out too?) but at least driving that car will no longer be a white knuckle experience.

There were FMS 'Aspire sport springs' on that car for the past 2 years (bought from Roger in April of 2011) and installed brand-new when I did my first Aspire swap) and finally I have escaped the 'lo-rider' and 'stiff suspension' component of doing an otherwise miraculous practical adaptation to a Festy that was initiated by adventurous forum members 1/2 decade ago. These lightly-used springs (highly desirable??) will be for sale on here very shortly. I'm too old to get bounced around and too age conscious to want to 'slam' any car I drive, and I tolerated this for 2 years.

[Movin]

I love long soft riding springs and enough lift to make entry and exit soooo easy!!!

Now I need 60,000 mile tires that ride like ATV tires, and roll as easy as honda hybrid tires!!

[nitrofarm]

:whip2::whip2:

To resume the saga of wild steering........ Could not induce 'play' anywhere under the car last weekend even with my daughter turning the wheel back and forth, nor by using a pipe wrench to wiggle the LCAs. So I bit the bullet and headed for the dreaded bi-annual Ontario e-test Monday this week and enroute the steering wheel was suddenly 1/4 turn off horizontal as I gingerly drove 10 km down back roads to the test facility. I no sooner got there and the driver's side driveaxle seal 'let go' and all my tranny fluid peed over their shop floor. Car flunked the e-test (no surprise, all things considered) and had a tow truck bring the car to my buddy's garage and as the tow was letting the car down the driver's side lower ball joint popped out. Grumble grumble curse curse but at least finally the mystery looseness was identified. I put in a new LCA and a new tranny seal (and really had a good look at the knuckle and took my time seating the new pinch bolt) and while I was at it removed the struts and FMS 'sport' springs in order to replace them with 'one coil cut-off Aspire springs'.
Alignment is now way off (visible even!) and the car was undecided on which way to go on the 3 km way home but at least the violent right-left motion while accelerating is now gone. Tomorrow I'll do my typical 'driveway alignment job' on the car and then report back to the forum. This saga may not yet be over (is the steering rack worn out too?) but at least driving that car will no longer be a white knuckle experience.

There were FMS 'Aspire sport springs' on that car for the past 2 years (bought from Roger in April of 2011) and installed brand-new when I did my first Aspire swap) and finally I have escaped the 'lo-rider' and 'stiff suspension' component of doing an otherwise miraculous practical adaptation to a Festy that was initiated by adventurous forum members 1/2 decade ago. These lightly-used springs (highly desirable??) will be for sale on here very shortly. I'm too old to get bounced around and too age conscious to want to 'slam' any car I drive, and I tolerated this for 2 years.

The SAGA of the Wild Steering-Almost sounds like a Bobstat story :whip2::whip2: I thought maybe you where going to add something like an"Alien with Fresh Minty Breath" suddenly appeared in my passenger seat on the ride home.
At least nothing got horribly damaged,your Festy will "Live to Die another Day" What is an "E" test,and why did your car fail it?

[Bert]

:whip2::whip2:

The SAGA of the Wild Steering-Almost sounds like a Bobstat story :whip2::whip2: I thought maybe you where going to add something like an"Alien with Fresh Minty Breath" suddenly appeared in my passenger seat on the ride home.
At least nothing got horribly damaged,your Festy will "Live to Die another Day" What is an "E" test,and why did your car fail it?

I don't think I qualify as much a tangential storyteller as Bobstad. His written odyssey would have been 2-3 pages and we all would have been scratching ourselves trying to figure out what actually happened.
E-test is an ornery provincial-mandated tailpipe emissions test on all cars built after 1987. Mine runs like a top but smokes a bit so it did not surprise me that hydrocarbon emissions were higher than allowable. The test itself is $40 and you have to spend up to $450 in repairs order to re-try for a pass. If it doesn't pass the second time the car is issued a 'conditional pass' which means that it can never be sold to someone else but can be driven by the current owner for another 2 years until the next e-test. There is no reward or incentive for folks like us that try to keep old cars alive even though the 'green' implications and 'carbon footprint' of not having bought new cars every 5 years and prematurely scrapping anything over the age of 10 creates considerably less pollution (and fewer taxes and jobs) in the long run.

[nitrofarm]

I don't think I qualify as much a tangential storyteller as Bobstad. His written odyssey would have been 2-3 pages and we all would have been scratching ourselves trying to figure out what actually happened.
E-test is an ornery provincial-mandated tailpipe emissions test on all cars built after 1987. Mine runs like a top but smokes a bit so it did not surprise me that hydrocarbon emissions were higher than allowable. The test itself is $40 and you have to spend up to $450 in repairs order to re-try for a pass. If it doesn't pass the second time the car is issued a 'conditional pass' which means that it can never be sold to someone else but can be driven by the current owner for another 2 years until the next e-test. There is no reward or incentive for folks like us that try to keep old cars alive even though the 'green' implications and 'carbon footprint' of not having bought new cars every 5 years and prematurely scrapping anything over the age of 10 creates considerably less pollution (and fewer taxes and jobs) in the long run.

So now you have to spend $450.00 to be legit?

[Movin]

Did it burn out the cat? It should hot unless it is o2 deprived as well. So you take $450 in of receipts, flunk, then show up every 2 years and pay $40 to flunk and not sell your car...

In oregon you have to pass or sell the car outside the city that is enforcing and testing.
So far here they are only worried about wood smoke.

There are no safety inspections except on trucks. The police might notice something strange and write a fix it ticket, they are pretty good but most people go to a shop before it gets bad enough for them to notice, so most fix it tickets are lights out. Also, if the cops order a tow it will be 350 to 450 instead of 55 to 65 if you call. Glad it wasn't your rack!!

[Bert]

So now you have to spend $450.00 to be legit?

Indeed that is the case: $40 for the initial test, minimum of $450 in repairs, and a $30 re-test. The system is perverse in that any effort and receipts from before an e-test does not count (in the event of a fail) so the idea here is to initially go in having done absolutely nothing. At that point all ensuing receipts are eligible but only if installed by an accredited repair facility, and that the parts are specifically dedicated towards improving the tail pipe emissions. My having a spare engine on hand and $400 in receipts for new Cat, gaskets and seals does not count because they pre-date the test. Unless of course I hire the accredited repair facility (at $125/hr + 13% tax) to put that motor in for me. That crazy I'm not!

Changing the oil and plugs and replacing the O2 sensor, air filter and PCV are all useful preparations (as in: to generate receipts and benefit a test) but because the cost of doing this in advance of a test counts for nothing it is not worth doing until the second time around. Even then it takes a bit of work to come up with $450 in directly-related receipts when you work in your own driveway. The Ontario e-test racket is just another user-fee/toll designed to boost gov't revenues and at the same time allow politicians to pretend to be saving the environment.

[XFSE71]

I replaced my rings for less than $200. Add a valve job for $100 machine shop puts you clearly under $450 and you've got nearly a fresh motor (fresh enough). Is it base engine causing your failure? You'd like to pass emission and enjoy the glory of 50MPG. A new motor is a good start.

[nitrofarm]

I replaced my rings for less than $200. Add a valve job for $100 machine shop puts you clearly under $450 and you've got nearly a fresh motor (fresh enough). Is it base engine causing your failure? You'd like to pass emission and enjoy the glory of 50MPG. A new motor is a good start.

What does a machinist do for a "Valve Job", that only cost $100.00????

[Bert]

I replaced my rings for less than $200. Add a valve job for $100 machine shop puts you clearly under $450 and you've got nearly a fresh motor (fresh enough). Is it base engine causing your failure? You'd like to pass emission and enjoy the glory of 50MPG. A new motor is a good start.

Wherever it is you are located car repairs are cheap. A complete set of B3 gaskets and seals is already $165 in my case and nobody commercial will touch an engine rebuild for under a $1000. I have a lo-mile 97 B3 on hand and just have to get up the gumption, and spare time, to swap it over. But it is also nice to have a second car on the road while you're trying to do that.

[XFSE71]

Wherever it is you are located car repairs are cheap. A complete set of B3 gaskets and seals is already $165 in my case and nobody commercial will touch an engine rebuild for under a $1000. I have a lo-mile 97 B3 on hand and just have to get up the gumption, and spare time, to swap it over. But it is also nice to have a second car on the road while you're trying to do that.

Full gasket set is $100 Rings $40. I took a bare head to the machine shop in Apache Junction, AZ. he vatted, cut seats and valves. I handled teardown and reassembly. I had to replace the rings, just to get past the blow-by issue. Festivas are great doit yourself hobby cars. I'd like to upgrade to an Eco-Boost, although I also like the carbies because they will run without an ECA, fuelly's won't.

[defprun]

Ontario etest = 1 bottle of prestone gasline antifreeze per 1/4 tank.

I put two bottles in my VR6 jetta that would not pass even with a new cat. I spent almost 1k before I put 13$ of the antifreeze stuff in my tank. (i ran two cause it had a full tank)